Living Jewish in the Middle of the Midwest, Des Moines, Iowa and sharing stories of faith and purpose.

October 17, 2010

Invisible People

Yesterday on my walk to shul I came up on four men doing concrete work at a local business. Me, dressed in a suit at 8:30 on a Saturday Morning...it's a little for Des Moines...not something people usually see. About fifty-feet away I could hear them talking. Sounded like Spanish, they looked like Hispanic guys...so my hunch is, they were.

When I got within ten or fifteen feet they stopped talking and working. Stood and cast their eyes to the ground. I waved. They did not respond. They were trying to become invisible.

I've seen that same reaction before but only in the movies. Movies about slaves and slave owners, movies about Nazi Germany and Jews who were trying to become "invisible" under the gaze of the SS.

The Invisible People...they are everywhere.

They work construction, hospitality, food processing...and they are fearful of "The Suit". "Who is this "white-man" dressed up on an early Saturday Morning? Was he INS? Were there others? What if he stops and asks me for my "papers"?"

It bothered me...a lot. Folks like Congressman Steven King (R-IA) will tell you we should ship them all "back across the border" along with their "anchor babies". Really? That is our answer? That is the answer of a country that looks towards the statue in New York that inscribed with these words by, fellow Jew Emma Lazarus: "Give me your tired, your poor Your huddled masses yearning to breath free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door." The only door King and others like him see...has bars. Others who "want their country back" side with guys like King and continue to spread the lie that "Illegals are taking our jobs". Really? That is your answer? I get weary and ashamed.

In some ways I find the more observant I become the more liberal I am becoming. You see, I think there is a religious ethic here that my friends on "The Fringe" have decided doesn't count. "...kindness to the stranger for you too were a stranger in a strange land". (Deut. 10:19) Kindness doesn't get downcast eyes.

I'm having trouble with this one kids...how about you?

See you in Shul!

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